A Grand Order of One
by Alyph Null
Summary: A man awakens in an empty research facility surrounded by snow. As he tries to figure out how he got there, and how to get home, he finds out that he will have to save the world first. Preferably without dying, or going mad from solitude. AKA The story of the last Master on Earth, emphasis on the "last" part.
1. The Beginning and The Summoning

Originally posted on SpaceBattles.

 **Foreword:**

Since this is my first time publishing any of my writing in this way, and English is not my first language, I would appreciate any advice, whether it be related to formatting, story structure, flow, grammar mistakes, things that are exclusive to fanfiction, or really anything else you can think of.

Criticism is therefore very much welcome, especially if it is constructive, as long as you refrain from outright insults or name calling.

Since this is an AU, there will be certain things that work differently from the way they do in the Fate Grand Order canon. For example most of the machines in Chaldea require either manual operation, or at the very least need to be monitored by the staff, however in this Chaldea the vast majority of the systems work automatically, requiring only minimal outside intervention aside from the initial input.

If you think you see something that should absolutely not work, or introduces a plot hole when taking the grander workings of the Fate verse into consideration, remember that there is a good chance that it is an intentional change, and will either be explained later, is actually a plot point or simply stems from one of the changes to the verse in a way that might not be immediately obvious. If you still think it is a mistake, PM it to me, or put it in a spoiler, just in case.

Time spent in Chaldea is going to be be written mostly using journal entries. Time spent in singularities will be written in a more usual fashion.

At the start I am going to take some time to do a bit of Chaldea facility worldbuilding, as in the canon we are not given that much information about it, which is fine since we spend all of our time in the singularities, however a large part of this story is going to take place there, so I felt it necessary.

I also want people that are completely unfamiliar with Fate to be able to enjoy this, so expect to find information that any Fate fan would already be familiar with.

Well then, let's get into it.

 **Intro:**

I wake up to the feeling of cold hard floor on my face.  
As I get up and look around, I realise that I am in a room I don't recognise. It is very reminiscent of a hospital room. Clean white bed, floor and walls, along with a high-tech feel that you wouldn't find in a typical flat, or hotel room.  
However, there are no medical supplies or equipment, and instead of one of the walls, there is a large window, behind which, as far as eyes can see are only snowy mountains. A strange place for a hospital, if this indeed is one.

I go to check my trouser pocket for my phone, only to be blocked by the long lab coat I was wearing. Not a hospital gown, but rather something a doctor, or a researcher would wear. Certainly weird, as it isn't something I ever wear. Further inspection of myself reveals a name tag with a strange symbol, my name, stating me to be an 'Assistant Head Technician' of a 'Chaldea Security Organization', an organization I have never heard of. Now things are officially getting strange.

Searching around a bit more, I found many of my belongings, such as my phone, laptop, clothes, and my tea selection all in the places where I would put them, were this my room.

Is this some kind of a prank? Did someone kidnap me, along with all of my belongings, and put me in their futuristic mountain retreat? Had I gone mad, or suffered from a head injury, rendering me unable to make new long term memories, doomed to relive this moment of confusion forever, as I am locked inside of a mental asylum in the mountains, constantly forgetting what happened 5 minutes ago? Given a fake name tag and lab coat to keep me occupied long enough for my short term memory to get wiped, so that I don't wander out of my room?

Now that is a scary thought, I am really hoping that isn't the case. Anyway, I don't see any point in staying inside of this room, I should probably find someone to ask about what is happening here.

Exiting the room, I found myself inside of a long, futuristic looking hallway. On the wall opposite the room I just left there is a symbol identical to the one I have on my name tag. The hallway is completely silent, and there is no one in sight. I look at the door to the room I was just in. Printed on it is my name. I pick a direction and walk in it, trying to find some answers.

 **Day 1:**

After not finding anyone during my search of this facility I found myself in, I have decided to start keeping this journal. The reason for that is two-fold, first is so that I don't forget anything important, and the second is to make sure that I am not going crazy. One has to doubt their mind after finding themselves in an abandoned facility in the middle of nowhere after all.

Anyway, after collecting my bearings, and leaving the room I woke up in, I have searched a large part of the facility, using a floor plan I found to prioritise places I thought I would be most likely to find other people in. This was made easier by the pleasant revelation that my name tag seems to grant me the access to all the doors I have attempted to enter so far.

After not having any success with that for multiple hours, I instead attempted to do a brief search of the places I though I would need the most in order to sustain myself, and find out information about this place.

There is a canteen, as well as a large kitchen and storage with a wide variety of foods, preserved in a strange manner I don't quite understand, however they all seemed edible from what I have tried.

I have also found a medical bay(or whatever it is called when it is a part of a research facility), likewise stocked with medical supplies, equipment, and books. Though I have no idea how to properly use 99% of those, so my best chance at survival is extreme caution.  
Which would also, in hindsight, include not eating the food I found in the storage, though it is a bit late for that now.

Many server, and console rooms are scattered around the building. They seem operate the facility, provide it with an IT infrastructure that many research institutes would no doubt be very jealous of.

The last thing of importance I discovered was a library that seems to be split into multiple parts, depending on the purpose the books serve.

There is a General section, that seems to contain books detailing general knowledge you could find anywhere, literature from antiquity to the present day, as well as any books that didn't fit in the other sections.

Technical section has topics ranging anywhere from "basic user knowledge" through "system administrator" all the way to "newest IT research".  
This section is the one that I understand the most topics from, as it falls under my field of work.

Research section is probably the least cohesive one, as it seems to be made up of books from all kinds of research fields that are practised here from mathematics to biology and more.

The last section however is the one that gave me pause.

Magecraft. This section might be the largest one here, and indeed seems to contain books that talk about all manners of occult and supernatural. My first reaction was to assume that someone had a bit of fun and renamed their Fiction section, however the General section also seems to contain a fair number of fictional works.  
I have also skimmed a number of the books, and they were all academic in tone, as if they were truly written with the assumption that the reader will study and research them, lacking any narrative that would be expected in fiction.  
I was very tempted to look into this section more, but I decided to research the rest of the facility instead for now. The books are going to stay here after all.

Other than that I discovered many rooms and parts of this building that I can only assume focus on all kinds of strange research. I only gave them a cursory glance, both since I likely wouldn't quite understand what they were for anyway, and also because I didn't want to risk accidentally releasing an artificial plague, or something like that.

This was all I managed to do before I was too tired to continue, and decided to return to the room I embarked from at the beginning of the day. Wrote a bunch of quick pointers into a notebook I found at the library, and went to sleep.

 **Day 2:**

I woke up and banged my knee on the bedside table while searching for my glasses, before remembering that I was in fact no longer at my home. Afterwards I continued on with my plan from the day before, namely:

1\. Acquire knowledge of my situation and how to get out of it.

2\. Implement knowledge.

3\. ?

4\. Profit.

Not exactly a detailed plan, but when you have no information on your situation you have to make due.

I decided to first familiarize myself with the local computer systems, so that I could be sure there isn't a nuclear reactor about to overheat and explode, or that the electricity does not simply go out, leaving me to die slowly as the outside cold claws its way in.

Of course that was easier said than done. Luckily after a few hours of fruitless attempts to gain access to any of the local computers, I remembered that I had seen my laptop in my room. And to my unbridled joy (and quite a bit of worry, how did they get there?) it did indeed contain multiple saved passwords, allowing me access to essentially the entire infrastructure.

I spent the rest of the day focusing myself on that.

Important discoveries:

Digital version of the library I had found earlier – though I am unsure if it contains all of the books the physical one does.

There is a system called SHEBA, it monitors every inch of the facility and its immediate surroundings in fascinating detail, without seemingly any way to be able to do so. It also has other modes of operation, however I don't understand how those work quite yet.

Most of the facility is fully automatic, but can also be operated remotely, allowing me to do anything from opening/closing doors, through temperature regulation to a full scale facility lock down.

There is a large number of other systems that I have been unable to ascertain the function of, however their complexity confounds and intrigues me greatly.

There are multiple ways to contact the outside, however despite all of them seemingly working perfectly I haven't gotten a single response from anyone. Very strange and unnerving.

The greatest source of knowledge might actually be the files contained in "my" folders, and designated with my name, as they seem to be focused mainly on the basis and function of the local technology.  
Not to mention it uncannily resembles the way I like to conduct research and take notes. Which does pose an uncomfortable question: Were they truly made by me, and had I just lost my memory? Or if not, who made them? I certainly do not seem any older than I remember being.

Though youthful appearance does run in the family. People still often assume my father is simply my older brother by the virtue of us looking remarkably similar in age. The more telling is the date on all of the local electronics, which seems to be the same as the one I remember.

Over all, I think that I might have found myself in a top secret facility with technology anyone else could only dream of. This certainly makes me incredibly interested, my own research (at least the one I remember conducting) seems insignificant compared to the things that they have been able to do here.

 **Day 3:**

My attraction to the 'Magecraft' section of the library seems to have outweighed even my fascination with the local technology, as such I have decided to devote today to figuring out what the deal with it is.

Conclusions:

The books seem to detail a multitude of strange supernatural systems of achieving feats that are technically possible(such as making fire or flying) without actually meeting the requirements for such things to happen. Hypnotizing oneself instead and drawing on some kind of energy while making a ritualistic sacrifice or something to that effect.

At least that is all I managed to understand from it, as the whole picture seems incredibly complicated. I am again very tempted to simply dismiss it outright, however it simply does not seem to be written like fiction. It reads more like material pertaining to a scientific field of study that I simply lack even the most basic knowledge of, resulting in me being incapable of understanding it.

A much larger amount of time would be required of me to really get into the concepts detailed in this section. Time which I am unconvinced I should be spending on something that might very well not be real at all.

 **Day 4:**

This day was spent trying to identify the rest of the facility using the knowledge I have obtained.  
I now have, at the very least, a fair guess as to every rooms purpose. A good number seems to be dedicated to activities related to what is mentioned in the 'Magecraft' section of the library, further lending credence to the possibility that there might be something to it, though even now I remain skeptical.

The most important room of this facility seems to be the console room, containing most of the computers that control the facility, as well as a replica of Earth called CHALDEAS surrounded by two larger globes of glass with metal frames. For some reason that I do not understand the replica is red in color. I am not quite clear as to its purpose, except for being a fairly exact model as far as I can tell.

I have also found a set of binoculars, which I have been using to look out the large window (or rather a glass wall) in my room. There is something calming about looking at the distant mountain tops when the sky is clear, or into the raging blizzard when the weather turns harsh.

 **Days 5-8:**

More all-around research focused on solidifying and deepening my understanding of this facility.  
I am beginning to understand the operation of the majority of the local electronics, even if I don't understand exactly how some of them work.

My attempts to contact anyone remain unsuccessful still.

I have found a variety of documents and reports on a myriad of experiments, missions, and similar. Most of them once again include at least some reference to the so called 'Magecraft' and terms relating to it. I think that I have no choice but to accept that there might be something to it.

Who knows, perhaps there isn't anything magical about it, rather it might simply be utilizing a scientific concept previously unknown to humanity.

The silence and solitude might finally be starting to get to me a little. I have begun feeling a bit uncomfortable walking through the large empty halls and rooms obviously made by humans, yet without even a soul in sight. Hopefully someone answers my transmissions to the outside soon, as it seems like otherwise I am going to be stuck here for a good while. And as interesting as everything here is, I would much rather be home.

 **Days 8-15:**

I have been devoting more and more of my time to attempts to understand the 'Magecraft' that seems to have been a significant part of the research and function of this facility.

This is due to the fact that I have run into roadblocks in my other endeavors which result from me being unfamiliar with the concepts of said 'Magecraft'.

However I have been absolutely unable to make any progress, which has been making me very irate and annoyed. I didn't want to make any journal entries until I have made at least SOME progress, hence this being my first entry in a week.

My mental state is still very much manageable, even if my sleep cycle has suffered, and I have begun to sing to myself to break the silence, something I have never done before in my life. It might also be the cause of my shortened temper, along with my failure in learning 'Magecraft'.

 **Days 15-22:**

Still no progress with the 'Magecraft', though I was able to make some advances in other areas, despite not devoting as much time to them as I did to trying to learn magic.

 **Day 23:**

Today, while researching in my room as usual, trying to finally break the enigma that is 'Magecraft' I have once again become too irritated to continue, and had to take a quick break of looking out of the window using my binoculars. I took note of the time so I would know how long I have been working, the bedside clock was showing 13:47

The weather was fairly calm, with only mild snowfall, resulting in a good visibility distance. Whilst relaxing and thinking about how to progress with my research, something unusual caught my eye. A black dot slowly moving across one of the mountains further back. I switched to more powerful binoculars, and focused on it.

Now I wish I hadn't done that.

The dot revealed itself to be a figure shaped vaguely like a man, almost completely black, except for two blindingly white rectangular slits on its head. It was shambling itself along the side of the mountain, strips of it flailing behind it as if it was slowly unraveling into ribbons of darkness.

In spite of my loneliness, I didn't dare to hope that it was human, the way it moved seemed to ignore the laws of normal human locomotion, only the limbs moving, as the body trailed behind flailing in wind no one else could feel. Dragging something that was leaving a dark trail in the snow, dragging it with one of its upper limbs. I could not discern what it was that the thing was pulling, as it was covered entirely in blood and gore.

I was quickly taken out of my thoughts when it stopped, and looked right in my direction. Its eye slits seemed to reflect the inside of my room, despite the fact that it was kilometers away from me. It opened a mouth I didn't know it had, it had opened it entirely too wide and started laughing.

If the sound that seemed to ignore distance could be called laughter at all.

It sounded more like someone had twisted the cries of the damned into a mocking imitation of human laughter. Even now I can still almost hear it. The inside of its mouth seemed to be filled with hundreds of tiny needles, not in a row like human teeth, but instead protruding randomly from every surface in swarms.

It extended its free limb towards me, and despite the enormous space stretching between us, I could hear a loud crack and feel something cold coil itself around my chest.

I remember wanting to run, I wanting to scream, but I found that I could do nothing more than desperately clutch the binoculars in my hands as I could feel it constricting more and more of my body, its laughter slicing its way into my ears with increasing intensity. Then I could feel a sharp, pain as it seemed to pierce its way into my chest.

I must have passed out then, since the next thing I remember is waking up on the cold hard floor of my room. My heart racing I began to check myself for any injuries the thing had caused, but I could not find anything, not even my lab coat, name tag or shirt were in any way damaged. Had I just dreamed about it?

I looked out of the window, only to be met with a raging blizzard of a storm, not able to see more than 300 meters in front of me.

I was just about to breathe out in relief when I felt a bit of a draft and noticed the large almost circular hole with cracks around it that adorned a part of the window just a bit lower than my line of sight allowed me to see before. I doubt I had ever run out of a room as fast as I had then. I did however manage to catch a glance at the clock as I was running away.

The time was 13:55.

I spent the rest of the day in the console room, triggering the window shutters to close and using SHEBA to monitor the inside of the facility, and its surroundings. After I was too tired to continue I found a bedroom with no windows, and went to sleep.

 **Day 24:**

Luckily I didn't have my laptop in my room, the only things that were there with me at the time consisted of some of the tools for 'Magecraft' I was using at the time.

I still refuse to go back there and retrieve them after what happened yesterday, it has me very freaked out and jumping at the shadows.

The wide open hallways and rooms might have been a bit uncomfortable to traverse before, but now they seem outright daunting to enter, I keep expecting the thing from before to be behind any corner.

 **Day 25:  
**  
Today I woke up to someone calling my name, but when I was fully awake I could no longer hear anyone anymore.

 **Day 26:**

During today and the previous day I have gathered all of the things I might need to survive and continue my research for at least another 3 weeks into a room titled "The Summoning room". It has no windows, is one of the most well defensible rooms in the whole facility, whether the threat comes from outside, or inside of the room. I locked the door, and should be able to remain here for at least the upcoming 3 weeks without having to leave. I have set up SHEBA so that it will alert me of any movement inside of Chaldea, or its immediate surroundings, and am periodically checking myself to make sure there is nothing amiss.

 **Day 27-29:  
**  
My mental state has taken a sharp turn for the worse. I have been hearing banging on the door, but there is no one behind it, and I can see things out of the corner of my eyes that aren't really there. I have been attempting to contact the outside world far more frequently, without any success. This needs to end soon.

 **Day 30:**

Today I turned myself back to 'Magecraft' out of desperation. I have again made a bunch of futile attempts to achieve anything at all with it, before discovering a book I didn't realise I brought here, it detailed the summoning of 'Servants', which reminded me of something I had read about when researching the local systems. The FATE project(which this room belongs to) was supposed to serve that exact purpose. After a bit of research I had decided to focus my attempts on this from now on, as it seems to be exactly what I need. A way to summon a powerful warrior from the past to help and protect you. I don't care how crazy it sounds, this is exactly what I need: someone to talk to and to save me from the thing that lurks in these mountains.

 **Day 31:**

After countless fruitless attempts (during which the system at least seemed to turn on, though that wasn't really because of any success at magecraft on my part, rather the fact that it is partly electronic in nature), I have determined that without a catalyst I was very unlikely to succeed. However there weren't really any things that could even theoretically serve as such, so I had decided to wing it, and used my name tag in place of a catalyst.

As the FATE summoning system whirred into action once more, I awaited with high hopes but low expectations. After I once again completed the ritual required of me, and nothing happened. I was about to turn the machine off, before a blinding flash of light suddenly erupted from the summoning circle followed by a loud hiss.

When my vision returned I found myself face to face with a tall figure. Black mist emanated from its body, shrouding everything but the helmet, and the hellish red light that shone from it. Although I could see the silhouette of black armor beneath the dark fog.

Then it craned its head backwards and screamed in mad rage.

I could not help but think to myself: "What the hell did I just summon?"


	2. The Preparations

The zalgo text in this chapter was originally just meant to be strike through text, but ffnet doesn't support that, so I had to improvise a bit. If you don't like it, don't hesitate to tell me. Personally I kinda like it more than the strike through one even, but I know that some people hate seeing it in fics, so I am open to changing it if enough people message me about it.

* * *

I stood there, dumbfounded at my successful summoning, for only a couple of seconds at most, but even that turned out to be too long, as once the knight finished its battle cry, it quickly noticed my presence.

Then, before I cold do anything, it lifted me by my neck, my feet not touching the ground.

I don't remember seeing it charge at me, or do anything at all.

One moment it was standing a few meters from me, the next it had me in its grasp.

I simply suddenly felt an armoured gauntlet constricting me, stopping me from breathing. Surprisingly, instead of the cold touch of steel one would expect from armour, the gauntlet seemed to radiate a strange heat. Not to the point where touching it burns you, but still noticeably more than would be comfortable, especially for the person inside of the armour, if there indeed was one.

I tried to force the airtight grasp of the figure open, but I could not budge even one of its fingers for a single millimetre. The gauntlet had felt more like an industrial press had bent a metal claw around my neck than something hiding an actual human hand.

I soon realised the futility of my struggling, my air quickly running out. Death seemed inevitable.

And yet in that moment when I realised that I was about to die, strangely, I was not afraid. The figure strangling me was a lot less scary than the one I had seen before. It was certainly imposing, and some things weren't quite right about it. However it had lacked the sheer wrongness that the thing from the mountains seemed to radiate.

In fact I remember feeling a bit relieved as the knight strangled me. Comforted by the fact that I would die fairly swiftly by something I myself have summoned, instead of slowly going mad, killing myself once I became unable to bear the hallucinations, or being devoured by whatever abominations walk the mountains outside.

It was very strange, and likely caused by the mixture of oxygen deprivation, shock, and my deteriorated mental state, but I could not stop a small smile from forming as my eyes closed and my mind became clouded.

I was brought out of my contemplation by a sudden impact to my back. I breathed deeply, suddenly not hindered by the grip of iron. Opening my eyes in a rush, I had noticed that I was lying on the ground, two metal boots shrouded in dark mist in front of me.

Not understanding what had happened, I looked up, seeing the mist covered knight towering over me. It simply stood there, it's helmets visor pointed towards me.

I moved slowly, inching myself to finish the ritual without angering the armoured being. However it simply stood there, it's head facing me as I finished the ritual and cleaned up after it.

Curious as to its change in behaviour, I mustered my courage, and ordered it to move to a different part of the room.

To my great surprise, it obeyed me.

I tested out a few more things concerning the 'Servant' before caution took hold, and I decided not to tempt my luck and accidentally anger it again.

I surprisingly didn't feel weak at all afterwards, despite the book about the ritual warning that I would be.

I spent the rest of the day researching the strange knight that I had summoned, and the nature of 'Servants'.

Conclusions from today:

The knight appears to have calmed down, and is now following my commands, both verbal, and curiously even unspoken mental ones.

His initial attack on me, and it's apparently non-communicative nature suggests to me, that I had summoned a 'Berserker', who had exchanged their rationality for power via an enchantment of sorts. This might prove to be dangerous in the future, as the servant can be very unstable, and might attack me again.

I have been unable to discern the identity, nature, or most of the abilities of the knight, however it is without a doubt inhumanly strong and fast. Truly a terrifying weapon.

It is undeniable, 'Magecraft' is real. I can't doubt it any more. Still, the road to actually utilizing it will be thorny. The summoning I had done today is actually mostly done for you by a powerful relic, or in this case the FATE system, allowing even those completely unfamiliar with magic to succeed at it.

 **Day 32:**

Despite my reservations, and the fact that the knight I had summoned isn't particularly calming to be around, I have decided to go outside of the room I had confined myself to for the past ten days.

There are still things that I have not been able to take with me, and the knights presence does provide enough security for me to at the very least try.

The trip went without a hitch, and I had acquired some of the items I wanted to get, though going around the abandoned facility still unsettles me greatly, and I would prefer not having to go out very often.

 **Days 33-36:**

The knight seems to be content to stand in place without moving for long stretches of time, but at random intervals he gets restless, and starts growling, shouting, muttering incoherently, yet angrily, perhaps looking for something to attack.

So far he has neither attempted to repeat his attack on me, nor on anything else, but I fear it might not stay that way. As such, I have decided to continue facing my fears of what might lie beyond the door of my safe room, and I patrol with it around the facility regularly.

I am not sure, if that is entirely helpful, after all I am not dealing with a restless dog, but rather a mad weapon of great destructive power, but the outbursts seem to have lessened as a result, so I plan on continuing it.

 **Days 37-38:**

The knight exhibits no changes in his behaviour, whether that be for the better or for worse.

I am forced to spread my research widely, due to my lack of general knowledge about the local facility and research not allowing me to focus on any single topic for very long before I run into a reference to something I do not know. It is very frustrating, normally I would be working with people who are already experts in those fields, now I have to do everything by myself.

I am sure some of my friends and colleagues would not have a problem doing so thanks to their genius, but even without the strain on my mind from the isolation, stress, overwork and countless other factors, I am simply nowhere near smart enough to do the same.

My research has however yielded some unsettling implications for my situation. Nothing concrete enough to write about here just yet, but most unnerving if true.

I just wish my research would progress faster so I could set those worries to rest, or less optimistically – confirm them. At this speed I will be able to do so at best in no less than a week.

I wish my colleagues were here with me.

[Most of the following few pages has been written in a messy handwriting, and heavily scratched out, only the following part is legible, if barely.]

D̸̷͕̞̪͍͘͡͝ͅa̢͓̲̣͚̬͠ͅy̢͞͏͎̣̮͈͚̻̫̞̯̺̖̺̞̻̟̹̳͓̯͟3̷̸̺͎̱̫̺̭̲͚̞̝̩͍̜̥̘̪͖́̕͞ͅ9̸̢̣͇̺̯͇̜̤̫͇̺̩̪͉́:͏̨̡҉̮̙̞̬͡ͅ  
͟͠͞҉̨͓̠͉̼̦̰̗̖  
҉͕̺̤̯͇̠͉̜͈͕̼͓̗Ì̕͝҉͓̩̣̥͓̼̰͙̹̪̱̮͎̟̭ͅ ̵̤̻͚̬͈̺̯͎̀͡ç̧̮͈͕̮̪̪͔͕͇̼͚̩͉̺̟͜͜ͅͅa̡̢̙̤̞ǹ̢̢̞̩̩͇̩̩̺̖'̶̢̗̪̙̮̩̥͙̩̫̙̪͕̠̤̯̰̬̫̙͢͠t̶̸̩̘̤̗̺̣̝̖̱͉̥̖͈͙͜͞͝ ̸̨̛͚̰̦̜͖̗̟̪̥̲̯̀͢ͅf͎̠̘̩͉͉̝̜͔͓̘̞̹̩̥͉̲̱̀͘͢u̴̸̥̙̹̥ͅc̶̷͕͕̤͔͖̳͉̝̳̝̹͘k̟͙͉͎͍̫̮̞̻͟͠͞ì̸͓̼̞̱̥̤̭͇́͝ͅn̨̜̯̪͎̞̲͟g̸̛͏̞̜̯͉͎̟̥̟̻ ̢̦̣̜̜͟ͅb̦̬̣͈̺͎̺͓̥̰͚̮̝̩̬̞͚͢͢e̢̯̭̺̟̟̩̬̯̰͢͠l̢̢̢̫̝̯̘͉͙̲͢ḭ̵̶̡̗̰͍̥̝͉̦̗̗̝̩̰͞ḛ̢̞͙͕̪̞̤́v̨̛͓̗̮̲̣͍̝̼e̷̦̯̖͈͇̱̞̪̻͎͠ ͡͏̺͙̼̦͖̞̻̪͍̳̥̜̟̮͟ͅt̵̲͍͎̗̮̱̙̞̪̦̼̳̹̰̮̣͜ḩ̴͇̻̦̪͘i̷̷͡͝͏̦͖̖͔͓̥̱̺̞̫̥̰ͅͅs̻̺̱̰̠̲̺̺̞̱̹͎̟̺̼̳̀͘͡.̵̴͕̳̘̟̞̱̖̯̦͚͚̰̝̭͕̳̀̕͡ͅ ̡̢͚̱̙̠̠̜̖̫̩̹͈̭̞͔͉͉H҉̭͙͖̞̹̞̫̼̞̺̣̗̬̮̀͘͠o̫͙̭̠̪͈̲̭͎̫̺̭̞͡w̴̛̠̪̥̱̺̳̭̠̲ ̶͓̘̫́͢c̸̨̜̱̬̳̥̹̯̯̠̖̠̩͙͘͢͞ͅờ͔̠̗͉͙̦̖̜͇̣̫̜͕͇͉̹͕͖͠ͅu̡̧҉̵̭̹̩̙̙͚̦̯͓̣̰̥̀l͏̡͓͍͍̻͍̮̯̯̠̪̜̱̻͘ͅͅd̵̻̱̦͔̰̠͇̮̦͔̜̼̤͓͓̹͕̱̫́͜ ̨̤͕̠̝̼̦̬̖͙̣̙̯̼̘͕̯͍̜̀͝ͅt̟̳̜̦̹͙͉̪̘͖͉̦̠̦̮͡h̢̲͚̳̭̪̰̙̗̯̫̗̮̳̙̰͢ͅi̷͕̣̥̲͎͈̫̠̮̫̘͜͠ś̵͚͕͇̲̺͕͓̕͜ ̢̧̠͉̲̟͔͇̙͕̞̰̟̕͢h͏̵̠̗͖͉͇̼̰̯͕͕̲͖́̕ͅà̵̴̰͙̙̟̟̩͈̪͚̗̣̠͞p̷̤̣̺̰̬͈̦̺̭̱̼͚̦̟̮͖̥̙͘̕p҉̯̲̫͍͔̲͎͕͚͇̥̦͉͡ͅé̵̡̮̹͚̫̦̘̞̫̯͚̼̫̱̟̺̕͟ǹ̨̧̘̖̻̹̯͘ ͙͍͔̙̤̖̩̰̩̰͝͝t̵̵͔̳͍͇̤̟̣̘͍̫͘͠ͅờ̸̶͚̖͈͎ͅ ̴̸̠̱͕̦̩̮̘͎̫̮͈͓̥̖̦́͟m̴̜̦͔̭̭͖̖̝̘͘è̵̡͖͚̭̗̱̭͖̦͎͚.̞̣͓̺̠͇͙̼̞́͘͠ ̡̛͚̜̙͓͈̜̳̜̤͇̠̰̦͕͚̰͞͡W̰̙̝̩͎͙̯̰̦̜̫̫͚͈̳̺͠h̷̦̥̦͔͚̜̩̮̀͟a̵̦̭͕̟̫̭̳̦͓̥̮̫̱͘ţ̸̝͍̩͓̠̕ ̴̨̩̺̦͙͉͍̰͚͚͕̬̼̜ͅt͉̰̫̗̯̀ḩ҉̖̼͈̩͕̻̼͈͈͎͚̘̹͝ȩ͇̭͍̜̼͔̯͍̞̠̖̱͓̘̗͍̕ ̧҉̨͙͖̘̦͇͕̘̩͙̀͠h̯̹̫̖̺̼̼͍̙̣̻̪͖̞͍͙́̀͡͝ͅȩ̷̡̨͔͙̗̭̭̹͉͍̺͓͍̙̹͉̟̤̳́ĺ͟͜͡͏͓͈̳̫͚͔̻̥̝̩̮̮̬l̢̧͍̰͔̫̻̥̗̹͇͠͠ ̧͏̵̬̱̟̤͖̰̯̭̪a̛̗̼͙̪̕͢͠ͅm͏̢̼̘̭̬͓̘̻̗͘ ̵̨̱̤̖̣̤̱͇̰͉̲̠̲̺̪͕̫̝͟͝͡I҉̶̶̲̤̖̮̪̯͔̖̞͢ ̀͘͏̣̮̠̠̭͚̱̝̤̤̭͙̞̬̻̮̥ͅş̡͎̞̮̼͕̪̣̳̟̮̮̜̭͈͙̝̙͢͠ư̢̧͕̰̼̘̜͕̞̲̤͇̱̙̝̞͝p̷̶̭̥̣̫͓̪̣̯̱̝͓̦̪̲̞̹̕͝p҉̸̣̫̹̜̜̕͢͡ͅo̷̴̬̜͓͈̖͖͚͖̯̰͝͝ͅs̬̯̫̠̻̕e̴̡̧҉̸̰̪͓͎̳̠͖̘̳͕̟͔d̵҉҉̨̥̹̭͇͜ ̶͞͏̩͈̳̖̦̳͍t̙̻̮͍̳̜͍͚̖̥̩̼́͟͟o̷̦̩̭̗̘̪̞ͅ ̷̟̗̩̯͡d̸̶͕͕̬o̻̥͉̼͙̼̻̥̯̞͎̘̮̱̤͜͡ͅͅ ̶̺͖̱͓̘͉͎͕͔͘n̢̰̹̲͖̖͓̣͢͟o̵̶̢̡̯̼͚͎̦̟͙̺̱̮͇͖̪̪͈w̢̫͙̞̰͈̲̙̳͚͖͍̜͚͔̝̗̖͟ͅ?̸̷̢̻̪͈͍̘͓̗̦̹͕͓͚͚̱͓̘́͜ ͏͈͔͕̖̲͞I͠҉̢̀͏̬̯̬̟͕̳͙̬̬̞͚̦̗̲̲̠̼ś̷̢̞̳͙̙̙̝̺̘̖̺̘͙͕͓̟̟ ́͏̡̳̗̤͉̻̞̺̹͖̟̰̖͉̼͙͔̖ͅt҉̶͜͏̞̜͓̺̫̜̞̼̱h̸̶̻͎͓͈͕͔ę̻̭͉̘͈͚̥̩͙̟̘̞̲͍͔͍̺̼̻͟͜͞ ̧͠͠҉̦͍̤̗̞͈̮͍͉͈̬̥̲̦̫̱͖ͅp̶̶̻̦͙̖͇̟̩̻͘͘͡ŕ̢̼̪͖̱̻̪̳̩͕̮̣̱͔̗̙̹͉͡͝͝ͅͅo͏͖̖̬̞̮̺͍̮̩̹͔͉̬̹̼͠j̲̥̩̪͔̲̀͟é̤̻̺̜̬͉̳͇͈̱̬̰̝̫͢c̴҉̮̹̳̟͔̯̙̺̱̟͈̫̲̝ͅt͏̴̵̭̝̲̹̭̜̖̼͕̯͡

When I originally wrote these few entries my findings were weighing very heavily on my mind, my hope of getting out of here, and back home drifting further and further away, and what I thought I knew got shakier by the minute, so the last few entries are nothing more than an angry rant, sentences mostly scratched out moments after being written.

But I have calmed down a bit now, and can't allow myself to wallow in my despair, I have to push on. The technology and magic here is absolutely incredible, and as such I am not giving up hope yet, it may still be possible to fix this.

This is my attempt to recreate the entries, as I would have written them during those days, had I possessed a clearer mind.

 **Days 39-41: (written on day 44)**

It appears that my last entry was incorrect, I have unfortunately managed to confirm some of my worries already.

I finally managed to figure out how to get another of the local futuristic systems working, and how to use it, at least partially. This one is called LAPLACE, and seems to be able to peer into the past, getting less accurate and more power inefficient the further back one tries to look.

Using it, I was able to see the reason for my loneliness.

The world has been destroyed.

Through the use of some kind of a weapon of mass destruction, the whole surface of planet Earth has been incinerated.

One moment all was normal, the next everything was gone.

I would be tempted to assume that such catastrophe could not have been caused by humans, were it not for the fact that Chaldea, if nothing else survived seemingly absolutely intact. Except a few seconds after the desolation of the planet, every person here had simply vanished into thin air.

Perhaps even more suspicious is the fact that even with LAPLACE I am unable to view any one of the people present in Chaldea at that time as anything but silhouettes. I can look at any person in the world moment and practically count their wrinkles, but not in Chaldea.

No matter how far back in time I go, they never appear as anything more than a shadow, as if they were cut out from reality.

There is only one exception to that – Me.

Or rather someone absolutely identical to me that was an employee of Chaldea. He alone can be seen by LAPLACE, walking among the crowd of Chaldean shadows, working as a technician in Chaldea.

This doesn't however really answer any of my questions about why my memories contain something completely different. I even possess knowledge that would have been impossible to gain, had I truly spent my time as LAPLACE suggests.

Not to mention that I don't know why I would be the one to survive, while everyone else has disappeared.

T̷̶̶̡̨̼̥̦̖͚̱͉̺h̡̰͓̖̯͚͚̮̙̱͡ḙ̢̖̙͎͍̗̬̯̯̲̗̖̠̰̟͕̙̩͞r̨̡͙̥̱̺̖̰͙̝͍͇̱̯̼̤͙̠͍̞͈̀͞͡è̵̸̛̜͖̗̰̻͙̻̜͉͙͖͖̟̪̲'̕͝҉̭̹̘̯̖͕̮͓͎̲͇͖͔̰͜ş̴̷̠̯̲̱̺̪͉̟͚̙̘̘̖̝̀ͅ ̶̝̬̖̟̭̟̼͕̖̼̜͈͟͝n̴̸̟͓̣̩̯̱̫̪̤͖̜̯ǫ̙̪͔͙͉̯̳̗͎̼͕̀̕ͅ ̰͉̲̥̮̬̦͙͎́͞ẃ̴̴̷͚̥̠̗̬̫̼̝͇̙̥̫̺̕ḁ̶̧̘̜͎͍̲y҉̷̧̡̹̯̺͓̹̤͙̞̖͎̥̹͢ ̶҉̴̛͓̠̺̥̟̭̲͉̰̗͓̩͙̖̹͞ţ̸̸̵͖͉͓̣̬̳͚̜̣̹̣̠̗̱̭̞̀h̸̡̡̬͎̼̩͞i̢͙̙̯͎̫̭̞͕̖̦̳̹̣̳̤͚̠̱̪̕͜s̷̵͈̬̫̭̮͇͉̹̹͕̦̬͍͝ ̶̸̝̤̭̲̬̪̘͈̜͈̠̹͜ͅì͔̤̞̣͔̟̫̱̲͘͟͞͠ͅś̨͎̣̖͈̯͔̫̪̣͜ ̯͖̲̗̥̗̲͉̱͙̘̟̘͝a̶̵̡͍̘̲͙̙͎̩̩̼̯̣̙͉̖͔ͅͅ ̶̡̣̱͍̳̞̲̬̗̫̝͙̗͍͈c̢̯͚̼̭̱̲̰̫͙̱̣̫̭͈͎̼͟ơ̢̲̯͍͟͡ͅi̢͏̲͖͖̥͍̥̻̲̣̺͓̞͎̟̰̲̻̳͎̀n̶̢̹̼͙̥͞c̵̴̨̲̻̣͔͇̙̠͈͝i̴̸̸̴̢̖̫̻͔͈̳̬͙̘̺̰̳̹͇̟d̸͓̪̰̭͉͉e̸̷̝͍̞͔̥̰͎͕̟̬͠n̡̛̫̹̼͚̞͟c̛͜͝͏̳̺͓̘̕è̢͘҉͈͙͔̺͕̣̹͚͚͚ͅ.͞͏̸̲̦̯̝̞̩͎̭̹̖

At the very least I now have a good idea about what had happened here, and why I am unable to contact anyone outside. There simply isn't anyone alive to contact.

Perhaps more pressing of an issue is that whatever had happened, appears to have, for the lack of a better word 'damaged' the fabric of space and time.

Chaldea seems to have been built in part to prevent such things, but I will have to learn more before I am able to draw any conclusions on that topic.

 **Day 42: (written on day 44):**

It was only today that I got the idea to look into my incident with what I have decided to call 'The Abomination' using LAPLACE.

However LAPLACE only shows me looking through the binoculars into a raging blizzard, fainting, getting up a short while later and running in terror. No abomination grabbing a hold of me in my room. I would be tempted to simply write the whole incident off, in spite of my vivid memory of it as nothing more than a hallucination caused by a lack of sleep or an improper diet, were it not for one single thing.

There is that hole in the glass wall leading into the mountains.

No matter what time and date I check using LAPLACE, it always shows the hole being there, even before I had woken up in this facility, and the day when the world had died. As if it were there from the time this place was built.

There is no way for that to be true, I would have certainly noticed that when I was staying there, not to mention the people that were in this facility before me.

I am tempted to doubt the accuracy of LAPLACE.

It is after all a machine I don't know nearly everything about, based in part on 'Magecraft' that goes against nearly everything I thought I knew about how the world worked. It is certainly possible that it doesn't monitor the past at all, and is simply showing me what someone else wants me to see, or that it does show that past, but is being interfered with somehow.

Couple that with my possibly faulty memory, and the alluring possibility of it all being simply a dream becomes very attractive.

However such thinking will get me nowhere, so I have chosen to trust LAPLACE and my memory instead. One needs to base their actions on some kind of ground, and with LAPLACE being my first potential way of getting some solid information, I am not going to throw it away.

Even if that means that the abomination might be yet more frightening than I had previously thought.

 **Days 43-46:**

I have focused on looking into the 'Timeline damage', as it feels like the most immediate issue right now. Holes seem to have opened in the timeline, unobservable from the outside, with even LAPLACE unable to get anything from them, other than their location on Earth and in time.

They seem to be actively destabilising the timeline.

I am detecting 8 of them right now, though more are likely to pop up, if these are not taken care of fast enough.

There are also some smaller and less stable ones, that seem to form and crumble almost daily. Those are likely simply a side effect of the bigger ones, and will stop appearing, should the main ones be corrected.

Chaldea seems to be built, in part, to deal with exactly this kind of a problem, though admittedly not on this large of a scale, or with only one person to operate it, as at least one person must be sent into the past in order to repair it.

Luckily I think that I might be able to set it up so that it operates without the need for constant supervision and correction since the functions are there, but were never fully implemented due to not being needed, and increasing the risk of the operation.

I'm still going to have to research a bit more before I attempt anything though.

 **Days 47-55:**

After a lot of research, as well as trial and error, I think I have finally figured out how to operate the machine.

There is a lot of information about the system in the library under 'singularities', 'rayshifting', and 'TRISMEGISTUS'. Singularities being the damage to the timeline, rayshifting being the act of travelling into them in order to fix them, and TRISMEGISTUS being the computer system that assists with rayshifting using the information from LAPLACE and SHEBA.

I have managed to configure the whole system to run automatically during normal operation, as well as in case of some abnormal situations that I could think of, as well as tested the system by rayshifting objects into the small temporary singularities and back.

I have also managed to pinpoint the singularity closest to the present, tracking it to a Japanese city in 2004.

Now I just have to prepare myself for the rayshift.

 **Day 56:**

While gathering resources to take with me I have realised that I have neglected to mention the knight since I had learned about the end of the world. I was simply so focused on myself and overwhelmed by the circumstances, planning, and research that I had neglected to write about it.

The knight has not changed its behaviour, however it does seem to become agitated whenever I am distressed for longer periods of time. Perhaps this is due to the mental connection we apparently share.

The knight seems to be able to understand me, as it will fulfil orders, however it doesn't respond to anything that's not a directive for it. Not even with as much as a nod or a grunt.

Before I had summoned it I had been hoping that I would get someone I could talk to, unfortunately it seems this was not to be.

 **Day 57:**

While I have succeeded in gathering most of the survival gear to take with me, I have been unable to find a vital item for any hazardous mission into unknown environments – a gas mask.

A number of them was scheduled to be shipped into Chaldea after the rayshifting operations were officially started, however due to the incident that wiped out the rest of humanity, they never arrived, and never will arrive.

Luckily, the me that used to work here has acquired one for himself, as I had seen it in my room when I used to spend most of my time there.

I really don't want to go back there at all, but I am unwilling to rayshift without it, so it seems like I have no choice.

So today I gathered all of the courage I could and along with the knight went into my room.

When I opened the door, the room was empty, and absolutely still.

I ordered the knight to search the room for the gas mask without breaking anything that wasn't dangerous, while I stayed in the hallway, awaiting its return anxiously.

Seconds passed, then a minute, and I was starting to get nervous, wondering why was the task taking the knight so long. The halls seemed to be stretching into infinity and so did the time I was waiting there.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow pass through one of the hallways.

That was the last straw, and I quickly entered my former room.

The room looked just as I remember it looking when I had left it, except for a thick iron shutter now covering the broken window from the inside. Magical tools and ingredients still lying around on the floor just as I remember leaving them.

The knight was sifting through one of the closets.

While nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and the room looked like any other in the facility, I was still nervous being there, and as such began searching for the mask.

While going to the cabinet by the window, I stepped on something hard.

It was a fang and a bit of snakeskin lying on a notebook.

Not quite in the mood to inspect further, or to try and recall if they were among the ingredients I had brought to the room, I simply pocketed both items, and continued to the cabinet.

Inside the cabinet were a bunch of cardboard boxes labelled with a word each. One which had 'GAS' written on it. I quickly took it out, and opened it, revealing just what I was looking for.

With a sigh of relief, I closed the box again, ordered the knight to follow me, and hurried out of the room.  
While today's venture was a success, I would prefer not repeating it any time soon, since the room does still give me an uneasy feeling whenever I think about it.

I put the fang, snakeskin and notebook onto the bookshelf for inspection at a later date as I am quite busy preparing for the rayshift.

 **Day 58:**

Today I had managed to find one of the 'Mystic codes' (aka magical artefacts used by the local 'Masters' that take the form of clothing) which I could wear. It was quite difficult, as nearly all of them seem to have been worn by the masters when they disappeared, vanishing alongside them.

The only other ones I had managed to find up till now have been either a completely different size to mine, or belonged to the female members of Chaldea, and I wasn't going to run around an unknown environment in a skirt and stockings.

Fortunately for me, the one I had found today fits me well and, except for the strange choice of shoes, seems fairly easy to move in.

It is able to cast 3 kinds of spells: A healing spell, a temporary strength boost, and a momentary speed boost.

Definitely a useful thing to have.

 **Day 59:**

I had completed the preparations, tests and checkups for rayshifting at last.

I have readied all of the gear, and I am set to begin the procedure.

Normally, the things you can take along with yourself are limited to whatever you can fit into the 'coffin' you are rayshifting in.

However due to the fact that I am absolutely not going to leave myself here unguarded while I am fixing the timeline, I am going to be using the riskier method of rayshifting, which transfers my whole body and doesn't require a coffin.

This method is usually only used for transporting items and 'Servants', as any living beings rayshifted this way are much more likely to be killed, or irreparably changed, as the timeline tries to erase them from where they do not belong.

I have weighed the risks, and decided that this is the only way for me to rayshift, as I would rather die than be left helpless in something called a 'coffin'. Not to mention the fact that there is no staff here to monitor my rayshift, resulting in the risk being enhanced even if using the conventional method.

I am rayshifting tomorrow.

I don't know when, or if, I'm going to be able to write into this diary again, as I'm not taking it along with me for fear of losing it, and I likely won't have the time to write into it while I am in the field anyway.

Here's hoping everything goes well.


	3. Singularity F: The Arrival

As I am checking all of my equipment and preparations for the last time, including going over the emergency measures in my head, I can't help but feel an odd mix of emotions.

The task before me fills me with dread, and elates me, both at the same time.

Yearning for an opportunity to leave this place, even for a mission as dangerous and vital as this, is bound to do that I suppose.

The oppressive reality that I might die in the next couple of seconds if the rayshifting doesn't go as planned is clashing with the anticipation of temporarily being free of the horrors lurking here.

The last checks and rechecks are done, the knight stands at my side, all systems are working as they are supposed to.

I press the button to initiate the rayshift. The countdown begins.

5

4

3

2

1

0…

The world twists and turns all round me, I can feel the vertigo beginning to take hold, my head feels like a balloon in a storm.

I can almost feel my consciousness slip away, but then it stops, and I am lying face down on an asphalt road. A strange heat seems to permeate the air, and I can smell a bit of smoke as well.

As I am getting up, I can see the road split in multiple places in front of me, large cracks running from one side to the other.

There are abandoned cars scattered about and everywhere I look things are on fire, the bright flames contrasting with the night sky, illuminating the entirety of the city that would likely be completely shrouded in darkness otherwise.

The whole city looks like a war took place here, even the skyscrapers in the distance have clearly broken windows, and even seem to be missing parts, as if something took a few bites out of them.

But, after two months of the same haunting sterile steel walls of Chaldea with no way out, even a place like this makes my spirits soar, and the ruined cityscape fills me with glee.

I run my fingers across the ruined hood of a nearby car to make sure this is not just a dream.

Then, I realise that I don't see the knight anywhere near me.

Where did it go? Did it make it along with me? Did it die during the relocation?

I search around for a moment, before I see it next to a car a few hundred meters away from me, ripping a parking meter out of the ground, seemingly keen to use it as a weapon.

Only then does it occur to me that I probably should have tried to check using the mental link first.

I quickly make my way to the knight, wary of any enemies that might lurk unseen nearby.

Along with it, I then make my way into one of the store fronts nearby that the fire hasn't gotten to yet.

The inside of the store is completely dark on account of the lights not working, so I take out a flashlight and continue further inside.

It seems to be a local a convenience store, some of the aisles are knocked over, and some have a number of their products strewn about in front of them, but other than that the place is mostly untouched, no plundering seems to have taken place here.

My eyes wander to the bags of chips, soda bottles, all kinds of alcohol, things that I don't have much of back in Chaldea.

I make my way a bit further into the store, so that even the large knight cannot be seen from the entrance.

Now that I'm not out in the open I take out a tablet from the backpack.

There's no signal from any local satellites or cellphone towers, but I do have a stable connection to Chaldea.

I remotely check all of the data from the monitoring devices in the control room.

Luckily everything seems to be in order, the programs I made to automate the process of the rayshift monitoring seem to be working as they are supposed to, and nothing unusual seems to be happening back in Chaldea either.

Right now I would really like to be able to hide safely in one of these buildings, away from any potential enemies, and command the knight to carry out the mission alone while I monitor it.

However, since I have no idea who or what I am up be against, and given that the enemy might be well versed in stealth or seeking out enemies, I will have to stick with the knight instead.

The monitoring devices in Chaldea might be able to give me a heads up against any incoming enemies via my smartphone, but that isn't much help when I have no way to fight, run or hide without the knight.

I sigh and try to look for the cause of the singularity using the new data I can now gather about it.

I can see multiple 'leylines', rivers of mana flowing through the Earth, all around the city.

According to the research I had done beforehand, there is a 'keystone' for all of the leylines here. It is located in the Ryuudou temple, allowing a mage who controls the temple to have control over all of the leylines in the city, giving them a large amount of mana to use in their plans.

If this singularity is the doing of a mage, they have likely based themselves there..

And even if there is no one there, I might be able to use the mana myself to try and make the search easier.

Well, time to move I suppose.

On my way to the exit, I make a short visit to a tea isle I saw on my way inside, picking a few packages to take with me before I go. A good way to test whether I can take items along with me when I return.

…

Might as well take a bottle of Dr. Pepper and a bag of chips while I am at it.

The streets are quiet, only the crackling of the numerous fires that are raging around the city can be heard, interrupted by nothing more than the footsteps of the knight and myself.

After a short while of walking, I get an alert warning of enemy signatures entering my detection range.

Confirming them visually from afar, they seem to be skeletons of some kind. They aren't wearing any armour or protective gear other than some tattered remains of clothing. Most of them have swords and clubs, and a small number of them has bows.

There is a group of about 10 of them directly in our way, and a group of 3 down the street on our right.

From the few things I have seen of the knight, as well as what the books would have me believe, 10 skeletons should be a piece of cake for it.

But since I don't know what the skeletal warriors are capable of, and would like to avoid any nasty surprises, I order him to take care of the group on the right first.

The moment I give it the mental command, it goes from standing still to running faster than any human in less than a second.

It quickly covers the roughly 700 hundred meters distance between me and the skeletons.

It swings its parking meter once, and a skeleton is blown apart. The other two don't fare any better.

I suppose the knight was really holding back on me when I had summoned it.

The other group of skeletons is dispatched with similar ease. Before most of them have any chance to react they are blown apart, and even those that do react in time don't manage to hurt the knight at all.

As we progress towards the temple, we encounter a couple dozen more skeletons, but none of them seem to even as much as inconvenience the knight.

In fact, I suspect that it rather enjoys this.

As we need to cross the river in order to get to the temple, we make our way towards a large bridge that seems mostly intact by the carnage all around. It's also not on fire unlike most of the things in this city.

Despite that, the fires from both shores seem to be enough to allow at least some visibility to anyone walking on the bridge.

When we are about a third of the way across, my phone buzzes in alert.

A new signature, much more powerful than any of the skeletons, is quickly making its way to the bridge from behind us.

There is no way I can make it across the bridge before it arrives, so I instead order the knight to stand in between me and whatever is coming to us while I figure out whether or not it is hostile.

Soon, I can see a figure running across the bridge towards us.

It seems to be holding a polearm of some kind, but I cannot discern any other details across the distance in the dim light.

It's only when it stops around a hundred meters from me that I can ascertain its appearance.

In front of me stands a tall, fairly muscular Asian man in a strange medieval garb, holding a glaive of some kind. A white orb shines from his armour wrapped in cloth, ending in a tattered skirt, revealing his bare feet. On his back is a large number of weapons ranging from a mace to a trident.

"Hahahahaha, what do we have here, an unknown servant with an unknown master?" he laughs from underneath his turban "I was going to help Rider and Archer fight Berserker, but this might be even more interesting. Namu."

He talks! He might be giving off some hostile vibes, but still!

"He-hello." I fumble with my words after not talking for so long, the gas mask putting even more of a damper on my efforts.

"Um, what happened here?" A bit succinct and clumsy, but at least I managed to get it out in one piece.

"Oh, and why would I tell you that? Especially since I am going to kill you right now."

"Why?"

"Because she told us to kill any masters and turn any servants we can find of course."

"She? Turn?"

"Nothing a dead man needs to know. Namu." he says, readying this weapon

"Can't we resolve this peacefully?" I force my longest sentence yet out quickly in an attempt to ward off the fight.

"No." he says as he charges towards us.


	4. Singularity F: The First Battle

The moment the man sets his foot towards us, The Knight is already in motion. The combatants meet about 50 meters away from me, glaive clashing with a parking meter.

The enemy Servant opens his mouth, as if to say something, but swiftly shuts it again as he has to block a number of attacks The Knight had launched in its opponents momentary lack of focus.

After that the Servant seems to start taking this fight seriously. As their strikes blur in speed, I am starting to have trouble keeping up with it, and so I decide to begin backing away.

Walking backwards slowly, attempting to not trip over anything, I do not dare to tear my sight away from the fight for even a second, as both fighters are dashing from one side of the bridge to the other, attempting to outmanoeuver each-other.

The few cars standing on the bridge might as well not be there as they are blown away or flattened like they are made from tinfoil. Only the sounds of glass and steel being crushed reveal their true make up.

The traffic barrier separating the road from the walkway doesn't fare any better, and yet The Knights traffic meter holds strong in each clash.

I am steadily gaining distance from the two combatants, when suddenly, The Knight manages to catch the glaive in a bend of his parking meter, and uses the leverage to wrestle it away.

"Ohoo, what an unusual technique." The enemy Servant says as the weapon leaves his grasp, "Not that it will help you though."

The Knight doesn't respond, instead it snatches the glaive out of the air, and in the same motion brings it down on its enemy who is in the middle of pulling out one of his many weapons.

It is only the swiftness of his foes draw that prevents it from ending the fight at that very moment.

The surprise is clear on the Servants face, illuminated by the fires of the burning city, however before he can voice the cause of his bewilderment, The Knight again launches a barrage of attacks, even faster than before.

The Knight is clearly beginning to get the upper hand now.

Its superior speed and skill combined with a proper weapon have its opponent on his back foot.

I can feel the winds caused by the swings of both weapons, despite being about a hundred meters away from the fight.

The Knights foe is forced to sacrifice his current weapon to block an incoming blow, unable to match The Knights speed otherwise, his other hand swiftly reaching for another weapon from his back.

The Knight is too far into its swing to be able to strike him, so instead it grabs the fallen weapon in one of its hands, wielding both as if they weigh nothing, as if they are merely toothpicks instead of medieval weaponry.

They continue to clash for a few more minutes, but the outcome is starting to be clear, the enemy Servant continues to sacrifice his weapons to The Knight in order to protect himself from death, but he is running out quickly.

Despite the fact that dual wielding two weapons should be very impractical, The Knight strikes both elegantly and powerfully. Instead of the mindless barrage I would have expected of him, I can see a flurry of precisely controlled blows, each weapon seeming as if it was wielded by a separate master duellist.

I have never held a sword in my life, and yet I can almost feel the expertise with which The Knight fights with, changing weapons mid battle while he throws away his old ones to deprive his opponent of weaponry.

The last weapon of the enemy Servant flies from his hands, and he is left defenceless from the mace that is barrelling towards his torso, courtesy of The Knight.

He is hit and flies backwards into one of the steel pillars supporting the arch of the bridge, snapping it with a loud bang and kicking up dust and broken parts of the road into the air.

I can do nothing but stare in awe.

As the smoke clears it reveals the battered form of the enemy warrior. The orb in his armour is shattered and dirty from the dust, blood is running from a number of wounds on his body, ranging from shallow to deadly, as well as his mouth.

"Ahahah, what frightening power." He laughs a battered laugh, "To be able to turn my weapons against me with such ease, you are a strong Servant indeed. However, it will not save you, there is but one Servant that remains uncorrupted, the rest are already her puppets, same as I."

I want to say something, to try and convince him that there is no need to continue fighting. I don't want the first person I am able to speak to in months to die just like that. However, as I breathe in to talk, I am interrupted by him.

"And...", he shouts as he puts his arms into a praying position, bright red lines suddenly lighting up on his face and body, "you were a fool not to finish me off immediately."

Before he can say or do anything else, his head is taken off by The Knight in a flash of motion.

It flies through the night sky, the outline of the burning city shining behind him.

Time stretches as I stare at the headless corpse of my foe, my heart beating a marathon, my ears ringing from the blood rushing through my veins.

I can hear a splash of water as the head of the man killed hits the water below the bridge.

The body as well as all of the weapons scattered around, except for the ones held by The Knight, disappear into motes of darkness.

I let out a breath that was taken in order to try and persuade the now dead Servant, and lean onto the hood of a car behind me, before sitting down on the ground next to it.

I breathe in and out repeatedly, as the red light from The Knights helmet stares into my soul.

Well, that was a complete diplomatic failure.

My lack of talking for the past months has taken a much bigger toll on my ability to communicate than I had imagined.

Guess I'm gonna have to wait for a different murderous maniac to try and make conversation with!

Sigh... damn it, I really wanted someone to talk to.

A distant explosion takes me out of my musings. Following it, a series of loud bangs and other explosions can be heard coming from somewhere far away to our left.

By their frequency and variation, I'd wager that they are the sounds of a battle.

Time to pick up the pace and see whether we can get there in time to take a side.

Though from the turban Servants words about there "Not being any other Servants left uncorrupted." I am fairly sure that the sides have already been determined for us.

The subsequent run throughout the other half of the city is fairly uneventful.

The number of attacks by skeleton warriors increases, but not nearly enough to slow down The Knight.

Especially now that it has acquired a set of two strangely shaped swords from the Servant it has killed.

The two strangely shaped blackened swords slice through the skeletons with elegance unfitting of the mindless beast that wields them.

I just can't help but wonder why they haven't disappeared like the rest of the now dead Servants armoury?

Did The Knight just know which weapons would be left behind, or did it use some kind of an ability on them?

They do have red lines running through them now, and are blackened slightly, but then again so was the turban Servant when he started whatever it was that his decapitation via Knight interrupted him from finishing.

Could he have used his Noble Phantasm on those weapons before he died? Could he have cursed them or something?

Although I do faintly recall the parking meter The Knight used seeming quite red as well. I didn't really pay attention to it since I was busy worrying about something attacking us, as well as thinking about what to do next.

And I don't like looking at The Knight too much, the blood red glare from its visor unnerves me.

Well, let's hope that The Knight has enough reason left in him to throw them away on his own volition if they were to be dangerous to us, since the sounds of battle are getting very loud and close to us now and we are likely gonna need whatever weapons we can get.

Abruptly, the buildings end and we come to a massive crater in the middle of the city, it's size has to be at least a few blocks in each direction.

Inside of the crater, far away from where we stand, an intense battle is taking place, or at least so I assume from the distant shapes dashing around that incredible speeds, explosions of fire going off and shiny projectiles being hurled from somewhere on the other side of the crater.

Attempting to discern anything more is impossible for me, and trying to get closer to the fight of superhuman Servants with absolutely no cover, while someone bombards the battlefield with projectiles, sounds like about the most sure-fire suicide attempt I can think of.

Luckily, I am able to mentally order The Knight not to interfere, before he can launch himself to join the fray.

If the Servant we had met earlier told the truth, the last sane Servant is fighting inside of that pit against those controlled by a mysterious "she".

So let's hope whoever is down there survives long enough for us to kill their artillery support, shall we?

AN:

The next chapter might take a bit longer to come out, I've been posting the chapters that I already had posted on SB and SV, and had this one almost finished for a while.

However I am a bit busy now and dealing with some pretty important life stuff so the next one might not come out for a bit.

Hopefully all settles down soon and I can get on with writing the next one.


End file.
